Hello Friends,

I pray that you are doing well.  The reason for this email is to let you know about a new passion project of mine.  I have created a couple of businesses that have become successful, and I want to teach you to do the same so that we can build up the Kingdom of God together.

My new blog will teach you everything you need to know to start your own business.

1. I will help you find your business idea
2. Teach you how to attract an audience
3. Show you how to scale your business into multiple streams of income.

The most important part is that I will show you how to do all of this with about 30 minutes of effort a day and eventually replace your 9-5 salary.

I want to encourage you to try my One Month Business Challenge (click here). I will send you a simple to follow checklist that you can use to start your business. If you follow the steps you can see revenue in as little as 30 days (at least $500). Zachariah 4:10 says, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin,”  Everyone starts small… I want to help you start small and finish big!

You can read more about me here at business.chriscreary.com.

As always, you can listen to the Faith Fight Podcast by clicking here or read more of my previous blog post on ChrisCreary.com.

Be blessed and let’s make it happen!
Chris Creary

Most of us have plans of landing that dream job or moving up the corporate ladder to finally get that corner office.  One of the things I prayed before I started my career was that I’ll still be able to serve God in my church regardless of where I work.  For the most part God has answered that prayer. As I got older and advanced in my career, I have been noticing that more and more of my time is being consumed by work and it caused me to think, about escaping the 9-5 and if it’s even biblical?

Now don’t tune me out. I know what the bible says about work.  The bible is pretty clear on this.  In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, it says that if you don’t work then you shouldn’t eat.  What this is talking about is people being lazy and a burden on other in the community.   We can also look at Luke 10:7 and it says that “a worker deserves his wages” so for the time that you put in, you should expect proper compensation in return.  Let’s also include Ecclesiastes 2:24 that says that we should find satisfaction in our work.  And the best example that I can include in this is how God worked and created the world in six days and used the seventh day to rest and reflected on all that he completed. When I think about these four scriptures there is a lot to take away from it regarding work.   Do we have to work 40+ hours a week for our bosses or in our businesses?  Do we even need to put in 12 or more hours a day?  Should we be working 5, 6, or 7 days out of the week?

I’m going to show you but first…

You Deserve Your Pay

In Luke 10:7, a part of that verse says that “a worker deserves his wages” Before someone agrees to do work for anyone or buy something from that person, they first have to agree upon a wage to be paid.  Once they agree then the work begins or the product/money is exchanged. The price for that product or service is set by the person who will be giving it and depending on the skill or demand for the person providing it, the price is set accordingly.   If the person is able to complete the work in 4 hours then that is better for them. They can make enough money to support their life and have other time to serve God in others areas without worrying about how they will feed themselves or their family.

You Deserve To Enjoy Your Work

Now let’s talk about enjoying your work.  Ecclesiastes 2:24 says that we should find satisfaction in our work.  There are too many people who I come across every day who don’t enjoy their work, and dare I say, they hate their job.  They may have started off in their career loving what they are doing but over time the fire and passion may have died out and they no longer enjoy what they do. They feel trapped because they have to stay in it so they can pay their bills and a family to support.  In my opinion this is not the abundant life that Jesus promised us in John 10:10.  This is one aspect of work we should pay special consideration to so that we can feel motivated to do a good job wherever in the work world that we are positioned by God.  There is no better motivation to work than to be doing something that you are passionate about that is also in line with your gifts, skills and unique abilities.  Then it will be easier to get out of bed on a Monday morning and you won’t only be working just to reach the weekend.

You Deserve to Use Your Time Efficiently

Finally, God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. This seventh day of rest is very important for us to do also.  We are to utilize that day to worship God.  We can also use that day to rest and get recharge for the upcoming week ahead.   This seventh day can also be used as a day to thank God for all that you were able to do through the other six days of the week.   One very important takeaway from the creation story that I want to share with you is this.   God created by speaking.  He spoke and then it came to be.  Then the bible said that that was the end work day.  God did what he had to do on that day to create and then didn’t do any more.  So did God work from 9-5 when he created the world?  In my opinion the answer is no.  So why do we work so hard and put in over forty hours a week, twelve hours days (or more) and stay in a job that we are not passionate about?  I do not have an answer to that question.  But I do have a solution to the problem. 

What’s the Solution?

God has placed in us gifts, talents and abilities that we can use to serve him, serve others and we can monetize them in order to support our lives financially.  The challenge is that nobody has taught us how to do this.  Furthermore, hot many of us know how to use our unique God given skills to turn into a business.  We lack the skills, training, mentors and just general knowledge to do this.    If you can identify with anything that I mentioned then I have a solution for you that you can use to pivot out of your full time job (they you may hate) into owning a business that is in line with your skills passions and abilities and use those things to support your family and your life financially. I’ve done some studying in my free time and I came up with a simple guide that can help you determine what your unique gift is and how to turn it into a business.  It’s really easy and you can get started and go from zero dollars to at least five hundred in as little as one month.  And the best part is that you only need to put in about an extra 30 min a day to do it.  

It’s called my One Month Business Challenge.  It’s a free downloadable guide with a checklist that you can follow week by week in order to find your unique gift, find an audience that wants what you have to offer and turn it into a business within one month.  I want to be a blessing to you so if you want to take the challenge you can get the PDF right away by clicking here.  Like I said, I’ve studied these areas and put them into practice in my own life and it works.  Just click here to download the guide and you will be on your way.

Stay blessed.

Honoring God

Do you and your business honor God? As Christian business owners we have to remember that we are operating in covenant with God. In that covenant we have to do our part to honor God. The bible gives us clear steps in order to do this with our businesses.

Offer our First Fruits.
“Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10

When we offer the first fruits of our business we positing ourselves and our businesses to be in line with Gods blessings.

God VS Mammon
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24

Who is controlling you? When your business makes a bit of money are you still faithful to God or do you allow your money to control the things you do. Remember what you do with a small amount of money is only a test on how you will possible deal with an abundance. You can read the parable in Matthew 25:14-30 and meditate on being a good steward over what God has given you.

Love Money?
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:10

If you love Money more than God you will drift away from your relationship with God. Loving money means that you want money just for the sake of having it. Not to use it for any good purpose or give it away towards any worthy cause. The proper way to view money is as a tool to be used to advance God’s purposes. God’s purposes can include (but are not limited to) paying your tithes and giving offering, sending your kids to a good school, helping the homeless, paying your employees so that have a better standard of living. At the root of loving money is greed. Greed is not of God.

From the homework that I did, these are some of the top reasons why businesses fail to honor God and inevitable fail because they are not walking with Gods blessing.

Lack of Knowledge About Practical Business Principals

One of the things that I am very diligent on is ensuring that I am walking in smart business principles. Understanding how to market your business, and keeping accurate financial records are some of the important things here. We don’t need to have an MBA to run a business, but we do need to know some of the important business principles that can make or break our business.
Business Strategy/Values
“Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint;…” Proverbs 29:18

This scripture is very familiar to a lot of Christians. Where there is no vision or strategy your business will flounder and wonder aimlessly according to whatever comes through the doors of your business. It’s important for you to have established boundaries in your business.

How To Acquire Clients/Customers 
Marketing is one of the most important aspects of a successful business. If nobody knows about what you do then how will they find you when they need your product or service. “Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.” Psalm 25:4

Know Your Breakeven Point
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” Luke 14:28.

As you start your business, you should know and calculate what it will take for you to break even. The goal of every business is to remain profitable. Nobody goes into business to lose money. Count the cost. If you have an estimated business expenses that are more than your potential revenue then it is not a good business decision for you to get into that business. Count the cost before you build your tower.

One keep takeaway from this is for us all to understand that practical knowledge is necessary for Christian business owners to run a business successfully. If you are believe for God to intervene supernaturally in your business, you should first apply practical knowledge. Don’t expect God to bless your mess.

Undervaluing Yourself

God Wants You To Prosper
Some Christians fell like they can’t make money with their business. God wants you to prosper financially. He would rather have millions of dollars go through one of His children than in the hands of someone who would use that money for evil. 3 John 1:2 says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

God Wants To Transfer Wealth Into Your Hands
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” Proverbs 13:22 (NKJV)

One of the ways that God will provide wealth for your children is through your business. He wants you to use your business in order to bring wealth into His kingdom and into your family. Don’t hate money and see it as a tool to advance Gods purposes. If you haven’t started your business or done even have an idea on what type of business to start, I want to encourage you to try my One Month Business Challenge.  It’s a free PDF checlist that will take you from no business, to making at least $500 by the end of one month.  The good part about this is that you can put in as little as 30 minuets a day to see these results.  Give it a try by downloading it here. (click here)

Be blessed and take your business from glory to glory.

The next day I started to do some more digging to learn more I stumbled across another online marketing strategy and I started to look into it. Needless to say, I started to get confused. Days past and every time I had a some free time I was online looking up more information on these areas so that I can learn how to make more money. Now before you start to chastise me, there is nothing wrong with making money. My master is Jesus and the money I make is used to give God glory. What I realized was that there were all these platforms and strategies out there that people are searching for and as Christians we are overlooking where we should be searching first.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 ESV

That’s right you may have guessed this is where I was going. We need to get back to the basics and stand on scripture first for our direction before we start searching out these worldly avenues to learn how to make more money.

I’m going to lay out a few scriptures below and explain why I’m standing on these scriptures concerning the wealth that God is going to help me build.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

God is willing to guide us through life’s tough decisions. And I consider starting a business a tough decision because of will take up a lot of time out of your life. Time that is wasted if it’s not the will of God. Don’t think that you know more than God does and present your request before him. He is a good father and will direct you to where you should focus your attention.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV

“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

We often run off and start a new business or online strategy and fail to seek the Holy Spirit to understand how God is guiding us. This scripture says that there are things out there that no one has understood yet but the Holy Spirit knows and God is willing to reveal it to you through his Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 NIV

“You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

We need to remember that that creative business idea that we got came from God. We couldn’t have come up with it ourselves. He spoke through our mind and we put in the work for it to become a vehicle that can create wealth for us.

As Christians, our first action should always be to go to the Word of God to get a scripture to stand on.  Out of the God can give you the next idea that could be as big as Amazon, Netflix or Apple.  God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants (Psalm 35:27).  He wants you to be wealthy but your priorities have to be correct first.   If you are unsure on how to clearly hear the voice of God, I have created a simple guide that shows the different ways that God can speak to you.  It’s a quick read and full of scripture references.  To get it just click here or enter your information below.  God is all about maturing you and working through you to bring himself Glory.  He wants to show the world that a Christian who follows Jesus can be just as successful as that other person who doesn’t know Jesus. And hopefully through you God can touch that persons heart so that they can get to know Jesus too.

Be blessed and my God work wonders in your life as you seek Him first.

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Lets look at some examples of this.

Lie #1.  You can earn 100% passive income by running a business.

The reason this is number one on my list is because if you own business you would have to do some work in it.  If you start a business and don’t do anything to adapt to the changes in the market then your business will not last very long.  Even if you only invest in other business in order to gain some of the revenue that it generates.  You still have to do some investigation of that business and the market to make sure that it is a safe investment. That initial investigation is equal to work.   The percentage of passive income that you can receive from this source will require anywhere from 10%-50%.

Lie #2. You can earn 100% Passive income by creating social media content.

This is a HUGE lie!  Even though there are millions of people who are earning money through social media, there is so much work that they have to do initially that it can be burdensome or cause people to burn out.  The fact with social media is that you don’t even start to see any revenue until you reach a certain level.  So the question becomes ‘can you remain consistent with your content until you reach the level where you can earn some money?’  Most people give up before they get there.  But in looking at social media you see that there is tons of work that has to be don’t before to even get you to the level where you can earn any passive income.  My conclusion, you will have to put in time and effort to be consistent up front to make any money through social media.  Effort required consistently %100. However, as you continue to grow your social media following your revenue will increase accordingly.

Lie #3. I can earn 100% passive income by owning real-estate.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!  I own some properties and similar to owning a business, you have to invest a lot of time up front to own a property.  First of all, buying a property requires some effort (inspection, time & money) before you sign the deal.  Secondly, unless you have a property management company that will manage the property for you, then have to do it yourself.  Depending on the tenants that you have and the amount of maintenance required, this could be a lot of work.  So the percentage of passive income in this scenario can range from 50-90%

Given those examples, I want to make sure my point is clear.  All types of passive revenue require some work. This work is done either up front before you even generate a dollar or ongoing through the life of the revenue source.   I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but remember that if you want anything is life you have to do some work.  Even if you win the lottery, you still had to buy the ticket.  Nothing in life comes to us for nothing so make sure that you put the effort and remain consistent & diligent with your revenue sources.   Make it happen!

Do you agree or disagree of have a different perspective?  Share your comments below and let me know.

Andre Ingram’s NBA Dream

If you follow the NBA you would’ve heard about the story of 32 year old Andre Ingram.  He was a basketball player in the G-league (one of the NBA’s developmental league) for 10 years trying to make it to the NBA. When we see new faces in the NBA usually they are in their early twenties, about to enter their prime and have years of basketball ahead of them.  Then there is Andre Ingram, who did not give up on his dream to play in the NBA one day.  This past week that dream became a reality.   In his first NBA game against the best team in the league, he dropped 19 points off the bench… amazing for his first game.  His salary for the 3 days he was a Laker is reported to be just over $13,800.  His salary for playing in the g-league for the entire year was $19,000.  He even had to pick up an extra job in the off season tutoring math to make ends meet.  But that’s not the whole story.  Because of his incredible journey to the NBA and how he performed on the court, someone wants to make a movie out of his life.  This for sure will bring more money into his pockets.

What I want to highlight is that no matter what the situation looks like you should not give up.  If you believe that God has put something on your heart to do, press forward until you complete the task and can’t go anymore. At age 32, this is when you start to see NBA players start to decline in their play and disappear from the league.  Oftentimes we don’t hear about them anymore.  In Andre Ingram’s case this is only the beginning of his journey. Andre’s dream was probably to play in the NBA one day, but God’s plans for him are just getting started.  I am looking forward to seeing what the final story will be about his life when it’s all said and done.

Mark Zuckerberg

The other story that I learned from this week was about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.  As you may know Facebook was involved in a scandal involving Cambridge Analytica and the presidential election.  Although it hasn’t been proven that Facebook did anything directly to aid Cambridge Analytica, they did not take the necessary steps to stop them from taking advantage of a loophole in the system.

Mark Z. was brought before the Senate and the US House of Representatives to answer questions about how Facebook manages users private information and their role in the data breach.  Mark took some tough questions and it was reflected in Facebook’s stock price for those two days.

Two things that I want to focus on here.  The first is that even though it hasn’t been proven that Facebook did anything wrong in this situation, they could’ve done more to protect their users data.  This is where they dropped that ball and are paying the price for it now.  In your business be sure to think of as many negative scenarios that can happen in your business and put up some guard rails to protect you or your clients from getting into trouble.  Go the extra mile to protect yourself because there are people out there that are working hard to take advantage of loopholes in every system for their own benefit.

The other thing that I want to focus on is the opportunity in this situation. Through Mark’s time answering questions, he actually made almost 3 billion dollars due to the 401 million shares of Facebook that he owns. (Read more about that here)  If you bought any Facebook shares while it was low that you would be enjoying this now also.

The takeaway here is that if you are observant to what is going on in the world you can take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. Keep your eyes and ears open to what’s happening around you.  Like the sons of Issachar in 1 Chronicles 12:32, you need to know the times and the seasons and know what you need to do.

Be blessed and make something great happen today!

The world has lead us to believe that the only way that you can get ahead in your business is to work 24/7 and that if you don’t do this that you will not achieve your goals. This is totally not true and as Graham mentioned is synonymous to workaholism and will lead to burnout. The world has also said that you need to be always chasing the all mighty dollar and that is the only way to judge a successful life. This too is incorrect because there are so many other factors that can determine how successful someone is.

In working on your business it is important to determine to determine the priorities surrounding your life. If you fail to do this then you will always become a slave to your business. You don’t have to sacrifice everything that is important to you for your business to be successful. If you have a family, your spouse & children need to see you. How many successful millionaires do you see now with broken families? It is more likely than not that it is true.  How many successful business owners have you seen totally burned out and struggling with health issues.  The answer is plenty. Your health and exercise is important and you do yourself no benefit by “hustling” for your business success and forgo your health.

Another thought that was mentioned is that “hustling” is lazy.  It takes no thought to pound the pavement and hustle, doing the same thing over and over, expecting the progress to the next level.  The better way is to take a step back and take time out to learn about what you need to change or focus on to be more successful.  Take time out to learn and adjust. If you have ever heard of the 80/20 rule it’s says that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your activity.  It’s only be reflecting and learning about your business that you are able to pivot and become more profitable.  Hustling (doing everything you can all the time for some money) will leave you burned out and waste your time.

Set some clear boundaries in your life concerning your business.  Know your limits and allow your business to operate within it.  Ensure that you take time to enjoy all that God has blessed you with and don’t become a slave to your business. Be careful to set realistic expectations when working with your clients so that you don’t put yourself into a situation where you need to work past your established boundaries.  Be faithful and strategic. Be diligent and serve your clients well.  Remember to establish the priorities in your life and set boundaries.

Be blessed and make something great happen!

If I was to say to you “why don’t you start a new business?” Immediately your mind would shift to start thinking on something new to create. Something creative and innovative that could be the next Uber, Facebook or Google. This may seem like a monumental task and almost impossible to achieve. Those thoughts alone may discourage you to start the work. My goal in this post to change you mind to think differently about it.

You already have in you what you need to start your business. All you have to do is think about what you are currently doing and come up with ideas that would give you a competitive advantage over everyone else.

Example. I own a Mobile Tire Service. There are hundreds of tire shops in my area the people have been going to for years. But I asked myself why? Why do people have to leave their house to get their tires changed? This line of thinking led me to start my business and bring the tire shop to my customers at their home or workplace. This also gave me. Competitive advantage over other tire shops that only have a shop. I have also come across mobile barbers, car retailers and others.

All you have to do is think about your current industry and think about what that industry would be link in ten years. Start think and generate some ideas. Over your brainstorming sessions you may come across a great idea that you can implement now that is new, innovative and will give you the competitive advantage.

if you set aside fifteen or thirty minutes each day to think about how your career or industry will change in the next ten years you will eventually come up with a great idea.  Set aside the best part of your day (when you are most creative) to brainstorm some ideas. Write them down and think them through.

You might come up with the next Google, Facebook or Five Guys burgers as a result of your quite time. Or you might just create a new way to do what you are currently doing that is creative and innovative.  Remember, being creative is a spiritual act. God made us in His image so we have the capacity to create something new or an new way to do an old process.

Take the time to think and make something great happen.

Blessings.

Just to summarize it… this woman’s husband has died and she was left with a debt. Her creditors were about to come and take her sons a payment for what she owed. She called to Elisha for help. Elisha asked how he can help and what she had in her house. The widow said she had nothing except a small jar of oil. Elisha gave her the instructions to go and get all the jars from her neighbors and to bring them into the house and shut the door. They were to pour the oil into the jars and set it to one side. They started to do as the Man of God said and they filled all the jars with what they had in their house.

The oil only stopped flowing when they said there were no jars left to fill. They were able to sell the oil to pay off their debt and live off the rest.

What I want to focus on from this scripture is what each item can represent in our businesses.

1. The little oil in their house:

This represents what is inside you. We all have some resource inside of us that we can draw upon to use to make use wealthy. God has given us a unique talent, gifting or ability that when we use it we can be a blessing to others. Our unique talent, gifting or ability is for Gods Glory, to bless others and cause growth in us. Don’t sit on a little ability that is in you. Work on it and develop it. The world is waiting for it and you can use to advance your life and the lives of your family financially

2. The jars:

The jars were borrowed from the people that lived around them. This speaks of the people who are in your area that God has given the ability to help you get started in your calling. The number of people that this widow and her sons borrowed jars from are not known. It could’ve been twenty people that God has brought in your life to help you or it could be just one. When you set out ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

3. Shutting the door behind them:

This speaks of the precious time where you need to shut out the external noise and work to develop your calling. While you are growing you need to ensure that the people closest to you are there to encourage you and push you forward. The worst thing that could happen is for you to allow dream killers into your secret place while you are growing and developing into something great.

4. When they said there were no more jars:

Be careful on what you say. The words that you speak can hinder your blessing and future potential. The only person that can limit your God given dream is you. The devil can’t stop it, other people can’t stop it. Only you can abort the

5. Sell the oil and live off the rest:

This speaks of what will happen when we step out and work our God given ability to bless others. We will not only have enough financial resources to meet our day to day needs but we will also be able to leave an inheritance for our children and their children.

The key takeaway would be to find out what little jar of oil you have inside yourself. What is it that you think is inside of you that when developed will cause you to be a blessing to many and position yourself and your children for financial prosperity for years to come. You may think that it is something insignificant but remember, God uses the little think of this world to confound the wise.

Share this with someone who thinks they only have a little oil inside of them. That little oil in them can possible fill many large jars and bless them x times over. If you have any other revelations or insight on 2 Kings 4:1-7 please share it in the comments. Make sure to subscribe to get more encouraging post from me into your inbox.

Abundant Blessings!
www.chriscreary.com

Hindsight

If your business is new than you may not have much historical data that you can look at. However, you can always look at other companies and get some information that can help you make some excellent decision in the future. For example, how was the industry sales for your business last year at this time? Why were they either good or bad? What were the factors that influenced the industry to either go up or go down? It’s this type of analysis that can help you prepare for the future success of your business. If we think about the global financial crisis which really arrested the USA, understanding what caused US economy to crash can ensure that you position your business in a way that you can survive something similar from happening in the future. Analyze the data. Crunch the numbers and figure out why certain things happen.

Insight

When you think about insight you are focussing on your business internally. What is it about your business that can give you the edge? Insight can also about your knowledge in your industry about a new trend. You may have thought about the direction of your product or service and as a result you can position your business to generate greater profits or success. A strong part of having insight is also knowing what you do well and understanding how you can maximize your strength to move forward.

Foresight

Having proper foresight is a trait that excellent leaders have. A lot of the great innovators of our time have excellent foresight. They are able to make an educated guess about their industry and position themselves to be at the forefront of the market. Foresight is what has propelled companies like Apple, Google & Facebook into the billions of dollars range in the world. An example of a company that did not have strong foresight would be Blockbuster Video or Kodak. These companies don’t exist as they used to any longer. As the world changes it’s important to understand what areas of your industry will also change. Analyzing that change in your industry, you can determine if you need to make a drastic shift in your business so that you can survive. Or if no adjustment is needed. As the leader of your business, a Finley decision is extremely important. Take too long and you will be left behind. Move too quick and you might use up all of your resources.

Overall, thinking or analyzing is extremely important for the success of your business. In spending dedicated time each day or week, you should come up with many ideas that can be implemented into your business that can push it to the next level. Take the time to think. Not enough people do it today.